Monday, 29 July 2013

I had the privilege to spend a long day (13th
July, 2013) at the Gyula
Shakespeare Festival, Hungary. It was an enchanting day due to three
absolutely great programmes I could attend: a mini-conference focusing on
Shakespeare’s monologues in general and the “To be or not to be” soliloquy in
particular; Steven Berkoff’s solo performance about Shakespeare’s villains; and
lastly a Measure for Measure in the
Castle Theatre. All these programmes proved to be special in their kind, giving
inspiration and food for thought since then.

The most interesting aspect of the
mini-conference was what may be called its multidisciplinary approach, as the
participant came from a variety of walks of (intellectual) life. The eight
people who gave a talk at the conference included an actor, Steven Berkoff,
directors, Csaba Kiss, Yuriy Butusov, Emil Boroghina, and from the academia Maria
Shevtsova, Ádám Nádasdy, Gabriella Reuss and myself. I am not claiming that
there was much communication between the disciplines and approaches, but at
least many representatives of the fields of Shakespeare’s reception were
together and could listen to each others’ talks and hopefully learned from each
other—I learned a lot at least.

After the conference and some rest we could
watch Steven Berkoff’s performance, representation and interpretation of
Shakespeare’s most notable villains. The list included Macbeth, Lady Macbeth,
Richard III, Hamlet (yes, Hamlet was also included, for being “a serial
killer”). Although the villains were in the thematic focus of the performance,
yet through and with them we saw the stage and the screen of Shakespearean
performances, great actors with Berkoff’s eyes. Or more precisely the focus was
on MAN, and indeed with capital letters: the mediocre, the fallible, the
fallen, the happy, the frustrated and jealous MAN, who is there everywhere,
over there and in here. It was professional skillfulness, self-indulgence and
self-irony that made this performance memorable and enchanting.

The greatest surprise of the day was Measure for Measure by the Vahtangov
Theatre, Russia. The performance cannot be unknown to the English audience, as
it was staged during the 2012
London Globe World Festival. This very performance at Gyula really made my
day, as this production was one of the very few theatrical performances that
was composed and directed in an innovative and creative way, where from the
large picture to every little movement was worked out and measured with a
coffee spoon. The stage was located within the walls of the Castle, which
created a special atmosphere for the production. The stage was surrounded by
the high solemn brick walls of the Castle. These walls towering above the stage
created the atmosphere of a suffocating area, a prison from where there is no
escape. Or if there was some room for escape that was only upwards, as the
stage was not roofed, which circumstance made Isabella’s prayers all the more
powerful, credible and even moving.

I found the repetitions and doubling fantastic, when complete scenes were repeated during the performance. The most
powerful repetitions were those of the opening and closing scenes where the
same characters and the same litter filled the stage including the Duke’s
immovable eternity, Mistress Overdone’s eroticism, the chaos of the Viennese
people, the painful loneliness of the characters with the exception of Claudio
and Juliet who represented through their dance some unity and harmony. Also the
seduction scenes imitated each other with the long row of tables to separate
Isabella and Angelo for the first time and Isabella and the Duke for the
second. The initial separation was in both cases overcome by the aggression of
chasing and catching and pinning Isabella to a table. Doubling was also really thought-provoking.

Besides the general features of the performance
I was also enchanted by the skill and refinement of the actors, especially
those of Evgeniya Kregzde (Isabella) and Sergey Epishev (Duke/Angelo). Evgeniya
Kregzde’s Isabella was the most innocent, incredibly unhappy Isabella I have
ever seen. In this production the question was not whether she is to be raped
or not, but here the rape was an unavoidable fact, the question was rather who
would rape her, when and where and how many times. Under these painful
circumstances Kregzde could remain innocent with her adolescent eagerness to
find her place in Vienna, looking for and accepting love. Especially her scene
with her brother in the prison was most natural, the playful chasing of each
other, the long brotherly embraces made us believe that they were really a loving
brother and sister. Her small teenage stature was played upon really thoughtfully
when during her first encounter with Angelo she was blown by the provost and
Lucio, and she was running up and down like a feather, a butterfly energized
and influenced by the male characters. Even here, she could avoid being seen as
a lightweight woman, a butterfly of the night, the frail woman, but remained
with her dance-like tiptoeing back and forth a woman who was both reluctant and
eager to plead, who intends to remain herself even under the pressure of the
unwelcoming circumstances. Kregzhde could represent through her refined and
thought-over acting style the mystery of a woman, the irresistible attraction
that does not emanate from hot eroticism but from charismatic innocence.

In her presence both Angelo and the Duke lost
control, which was acted out with utmost precision by Sergey Epishev. What
Epishev’s acting pointed out was that Angelo and the Duke were both dangerous
men, dangerous but in different ways. Angelo seemed to be dangerous because of
his repressed frustration that surfaced in his mania for order in the smallest
details. This display of repression appeared when meeting Isabella, in his uncontrollable
shaking which turned into an iconic long and mute shriek that he kept until he
staggered backwards throughout the whole stage. The danger in his Duke was
rather the danger of the cunning, indifferent man of power for example when dressed
as a monk, he played with heads as if they did not belong to living human
beings, when he did nothing in the midst of chaos, aggression and filth of his
dukedom, when he arranged the tables in the same way as Angelo had done and
chased Isabella and nailed her down like Angelo. Epishev with his superb skills
brought out form his characters what was the most frightening in them with incredible
subtlety.

So if I say I was enchanted that very day in
Gyula, there is not much exaggeration in this. The conference, the two
performances opened worlds to me that I still fight to digest. And for this enchantment
I owe many thanks to the Gyula Shakespeare Festival, the conference speakers,
the actors and directors of the performances and ultimate organizer of the
Festival, József Gedeon. So, I can hardly wait for the enchantment that is to
come next year! Are you going to join me?